Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 92 - Broken Blade
"Sir!" Godell's urgent voice was like a bucket of ice water, instantly pulling Rein back from the abyss of devastation on the tactical screen. "Should we...should we retreat!?"

retreat?

The thought pierced Renn's nerves like a cold steel needle. His gaze swept across the holographic screen.

The lights representing friendly ships were extinguishing at an alarming rate. The "Borrower-class" interstellar dreadnought, named "Founder's Legacy," was like a moving death planet, each salvo of its main guns tearing open a burning graveyard of steel.

The Salvara Combat Squadron... no longer exists.

"...Retreat!" Raine felt as if his throat was being rubbed raw by hot sandpaper, dry and tight. He swallowed hard, his saliva tasting of rust, suppressing the surging bitterness and helplessness. "Issue the retreat order immediately! The entire fleet shall execute the 'Broken Blade' protocol!!"

"Understood! Transmit the retreat order! Execute the 'Broken Blade' protocol!" The electronic voice of the tactical robot TX-103 was cold and efficient, instantly broadcasting the instructions to the entire communication network.

Almost simultaneously with the issuance of the order, the icons representing the remaining ships of the "White Hand" fleet, as well as the dots of light representing the combat squadrons such as Tarsene and Brix behind them, all flashed green light to indicate "confirm execution"!

The massive hull of the "Repel" shuddered violently!
The main sub-light speed engine emitted a roar that was completely different from its previous charge, almost tearing apart!
The powerful thrust no longer propelled the ship forward, but instead violently propelled it downward!
The stern was lifted up by the enormous reaction force, and the entire ship tilted violently and dangerously, like a giant beast that had been forcibly reined in and was turning its head in pain.

Broken blade!

This is one of the most decisive retreat maneuvers recorded in the Separatist fleet manual.

It required the fleet to forcibly disengage before the battle lines had completely collapsed, at the cost of sacrificing some mobility and formation.

Normally, in the vast expanse of space, retreat only requires a clean 180-degree turn, followed by activating the hyperspace engine to escape.

But not now!
The giant blue sphere of the planet Sentales is no longer home, but a deadly gravitational trap!
Its immense mass cast a shadow over the entire battlefield.

If the fleet were to abruptly change course and jump, at least half of the warships would be torn to shreds by the invisible gravity at the critical moment of entering hyperspace, or worse, crash directly into the cold surface of Centares like meteors!

The only way out was in that seemingly empty abyss beneath our feet.

A hyperspace jump from below the ecliptic plane of the galaxy, bypassing the deadly embrace of planetary gravity.

time is life!

Countless people die every second!
"All fleet! Execute the 'Broken Blade' maneuver! Turn in sequence and dive at ninety degrees!" Rein's voice was filled with unwavering resolve.

Within seconds, the Allied fleet's warships began a complex transformation, as if controlled by an invisible giant hand.

First, all the warships violently rotated ninety degrees around their own horizontal axis!
A massive inertial force field surged within the ship, scattering unsecured objects everywhere, and the ship's structure emitted a sickening groan.

In an instant, the battle line, which was originally arranged horizontally with its cannons pointing at the enemy, was transformed into a posture where the bows of the ships were all pointing vertically downwards, pointing towards the void abyss!
The starry sky outside the porthole was instantly replaced by the massive curved surfaces of planets or the pitch-black abyss of space.

In that instant of violent spatial distortion and chaotic gravity—

boom! ! !
A blinding white light, sharp enough to pierce the retina, exploded out of the starboard side of the "Repel" without warning!

The violent tremor even penetrated the thick shields and the Durasteel hull, slamming hard into Rein's seat!

“Starboard! ‘Steadfast Fortress’! It…” The sensor officer’s voice, filled with agonizing terror, was instantly drowned out by the deafening roar of an even greater explosion!

Ryan abruptly turned his head to look at the starboard viewing window.

Just as the "Repulse" completed its 90-degree dive and its bow pointed into the abyss, the slender, turret-covered silhouette of a Generous-class light destroyer belonging to the Jospro Combat Squadron blocked the "Repulse's" original position!
A massive, devastating turbine laser beam from the "Contractor-class" pierced right through the middle of its hull!

No sound can travel in a vacuum, but the silent spectacle of destruction is more impactful than any roar.

The durasteel was torn apart and vaporized like melted butter, and the enormous energy released caused the entire ship to burst from the inside!

The detonated ammunition depot lit up like a second star, the blinding light instantly engulfing the outline of the Steadfast Bastion, leaving only a rapidly expanding sphere of light composed of molten metal, plasma flames, and deadly radiation!

Countless tiny, burning fragments were slammed into the diving "Repulse" by the shockwave of the explosion!
The crackling sounds of impact instantly echoed on the deflector shield of the "Repulsion"!
Amidst this rain of destruction, Raine's pupils suddenly contracted.

Among the rapidly flying debris, he clearly saw something smaller and more unsettling.

That was a human body. Or rather, it used to be a human body.

Several bodies dressed in tattered uniforms were instantly twisted, carbonized, and frozen in the absolute zero and intense heat of the explosion, and then flung out by the shockwave at a speed of thousands of meters per second.

One by one, or rather, one by one, charred, mutilated, and strangely curled-up objects crashed into the energy shield less than ten meters outside the starboard observation window of the "Repel"!
boom!
There was actually no sound, but the extremely uncomfortable impact hit Renn's chest through the shield.

The charred body briefly touched the pale blue aura of the shield before being mercilessly repelled by its powerful energy field. It tumbled and spun, then quickly disappeared into the deep shadows of the planet Sentales below, plummeting into eternal darkness.

Thankfully, it wasn't me who died...

This cold, selfish thought burst forth uncontrollably from the deepest recesses of Renn's mind the moment he witnessed this hellish scene!

The Steadfast Fortress blocked that fatal blow for him!
How many people were on that ship?
Or a robot?
"Enemy ships are firing! Take cover! Take cover!" Godell's roar jolted Rein from this brief yet seemingly endless nightmare.

"Continue maneuvering!" Renn's voice was hoarse as he forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart. "Complete the turn! Quickly!"

Immediately, with the ship in a diving position, the engines once again sprang into full power, propelling it to rotate a second ninety degrees around the longitudinal axis between the bow and stern!
Ultimately, the back armor plates of all the warships were firmly aligned with the hyperspace jump point leading to Kolmmex!

Damaged ships like the "Queen Belle," which were already slowly retreating and whose engines were still running, became the first warships to retreat.

Their engine nozzles emitted unusually bright light, the hyperspace drive emitted a high-frequency hum, and the space around the ship began to distort and stretch.

The next second, they transformed into streaks of light and vanished instantly into the starry sky of Centares!
Among the abandoned wreckage floating where the original battle lines had been laid down, now powerless and unarmed, some damaged but not completely disintegrated capital ships struggled to activate their emergency distress lights, which flashed at a specific frequency.

This is the "white flag" signal commonly used in space warfare, representing surrender and a plea for a ceasefire and rescue.

Choosing to dive "down" instead of jumping "up" was not only taking advantage of the Republic captains' possible momentary hesitation about maneuvering "down" in an emergency, but also a clever psychological tactic designed to counter the fact that the Star Destroyer's firepower was mainly concentrated in front and above.

This strategy proved effective in the life-or-death situation.

Just as the fleet completed this daring dive and maneuver, exposing its vulnerable back, the density of artillery fire from the direction of the Republic noticeably decreased!

"Hyperspace route locked! Coordinates confirmed! Route cleared!"

The navigation robot's sharp, urgent electronic voice was urgent.

"Execute the hyperspace jump immediately!" Renn's command carried the weariness of someone returning from hell, yet remained unquestionable.

Raine's voice was chilling.

The engines of the "Repel" roared once again!

With this thrust upwards, the massive hull makes its final adjustment around a short axis perpendicular to the bow, stern, and port and starboard directions.

The ship quickly stabilized, and its bow precisely aligned with the invisible, safe jump point on the other side of the planet leading to Kolumex.

On the main screen of the bridge, the lights representing friendly ships went out one by one.

This also signifies that they have successfully entered hyperspace.

Outside the window, the once still star, Sentares, and countless other stars were suddenly stretched and twisted, transforming into countless brilliant yet cold threads of light!

The familiar star map of the Sentales system, along with the battlefield filled with destruction and death, rapidly shrank and blurred in the field of vision, eventually disappearing completely and being replaced by a constantly changing, flowing vortex of blue energy.

Raine's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and he nodded almost imperceptibly into the void.

This tiny movement was like a silent command.

Seeing that the commander finally gave a clear order to retreat and successfully initiated the jump, the officers and crew members on the bridge who had been holding on with their nerves on edge finally dared to relax a little. Some of them dragged their tired bodies and began to silently walk to their respective posts to deal with the trivial matters after the jump.

A silence of relief, tinged with the aftermath of the disaster, enveloped the entire bridge.

(End of this chapter)